It is, of course, generally known to provide entertainment on flights, especially long flights requiring many hours of sitting within the passenger space of a jet during transport. In the past, airlines have incorporated in-flight entertainment features. Some of these features included shared audio and video, such as video on screens disposed at a front or at various sections of a jet's passenger space. However, these shared experiences were often difficult to view and/or hear, and did not provide a tailored in-flight entertainment experience to individual passengers.
Moreover, printed magazines and other periodicals were and still are often provided to passengers for their reading and viewing pleasure. However, oftentimes, magazines are prone to damage over time as readers continuously read and review, and must continually be replaced. Moreover, periodicals typically have timely, up-to-date information and must be continuously replaced with new issues.
Airlines have attempted to solve these problems by incorporating in-flight entertainment directly to passengers at each seat, such as by incorporating selectable audio or in-seat displays that may allow a passenger to select the particular audio, video, periodicals, or other like media. For example, individual control of media allowed passengers to decide for themselves which electronic multimedia to select and view or hear. However, these on-board, in-flight and in-seat systems have proven to be expensive and difficult to install and expensive and difficult to maintain. Consequently, many major airlines are removing these systems from their flights.
Some airlines have moved to offering multimedia to individuals on their own personal electronic devices. Thus, users, many of whom already travel with their personal electronic devices, can simply use their own devices to access electronic media during flights. Of course, access to media from sources outside of aircrafts is difficult, especially in view of restrictions on electronic signals from and to individual devices. Therefore, airlines have attempted to create accessible media servers that can be accessed by individuals during flights to obtain the media of their choice. However, many flights can have many, many passengers, all vying for limited bandwidth. Airlines have had difficulty providing robust systems that allow many users access and provide a smooth user experience without lag or buffering issues. Consequently, individuals may face slow response times, slow streaming or buffering, and their entertainment experience will be consequently affected.
Likewise, media servers accessible to individuals during flights, especially lengthy flights, typically have large power consumption requirements. An airplane in mid-flight often must supply power to the entertainment system as well, taxing systems that require precious power resources and increasing fuel consumption.
A need, therefore, exists for improved systems and methods for providing electronic media to personal electronic devices. More specifically, a need exists for improved systems and methods for providing electronic media to personal electronic devices in closed systems, such as on flights and in other confined spaces.
Moreover, a need exists for improved systems and methods for providing multimedia to personal electronic devices that are robust and can provide a smooth and buffer-free user experience. In addition, a need exists for improved systems and methods for allowing many users to access and download electronic media over a system without interference, no matter how many users are attempting to access.
Further, a need exists for improved systems and methods for providing multimedia to personal electronic devices that is relatively inexpensive to install, inexpensive to maintain, and easy to use. Moreover, a need exists for improved systems and methods for providing multimedia to personal electronic devices that provides easy access for updating the multimedia periodically as needed.
A need further exists for improved systems and methods for providing multimedia to personal electronic devices that is self-contained, portable and self-powered on an aircraft during flight. Likewise, a need exists for improved systems and methods having sufficient power via a battery that provides accessible multimedia content to individuals during the entirety of a flight without requiring supplemental power from the aircraft itself, and is usable and rechargeable using shore power.